JAILED: Former basketball coach Leslie DeWitt has been locked up for 30 years

Leslie DeWitt was working at Hancock High School, Mississippi, when she confessed to the girl she had feelings for her when she was just 13 years old.

Over the course of three years the 34-year-old groomed the youngster before embarking on a sexual relationship with the teen when she was aged 16 in 2009.

During the eight-month relationship, DeWitt is said to have given the girl access to her marital home via a hidden key.

The two also spent the night together at the house and the victim later testified DeWitt abused her with a sex toy.

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SEX TOY: Leslie DeWitt's victim testified she abused her with a sex toy

“The victim testified that DeWitt initially disclosed her feelings for the student in the eighth grade”

Assistant District Attorney Chris Daniel

However, in court the former coach's defence team produced a bank statement that allegedly showed she and her husband bought the toy at an adult shop months after she apparently used it on the girl.

DeWitt was found guilty of two counts of touching a child for lustful purposes after the victim came forward and reported the crimes three years later when she had started university.

She was found not guilty of two more serious charges of sexual battery.

Assistant District Attorney Chris Daniel said: "The victim testified that DeWitt initially disclosed her feelings for the student in the eighth grade. After years of grooming, the defendant committed various sexual acts of sexual molestation on her over a period of approximately eight months during her sophomore year of high school."

Sentencing DeWitt to 30 years without the possibility of early release, Judge Larry Bourgeois said: “You manipulated and took advantage of the trust that was given to you. You show no remorse whatsoever.

"She’ll be paying for that loss the rest of her life. That loss comes from your hands.

"The most precious asset in our community is our children. It’s our future. It was entrusted to you. You violated that sacred trust.”